THE OTTAWA f(ATURALIST. ' 



Vol. XVI. OTTAWA, NOVEMBER, 1902. No. 8. 



OBSERVATIONS OF ANIMALS NATIVE IN THE ALGON- 

 QUIN NATIONAL PARK. 



By Andrew Halkett. 



Some account of how animal life in general is being- preserved, 

 under the protective restrictions of the Algonquin National Park 

 of Ontario, cannot fail to be ot interest to the readers of The 

 Ottawa Naturalist. 



The Park is situated in the District of Nipissing, and covers 

 an area of about 45 miles square. 



On alighting one afternoon at the station at Cdche Lake, 

 where Mr. Bartlett, the genial Superintendent of the Park, resides, 

 I was pleased to see a collection of wild animals, quite at home in 

 enclosures, such as red-deer, a caribou, and a few racoons. It is 

 remarkable what kindness and care will do. The deer have some- 

 times got away, but after wandering have returned, to receive at 

 the hands of their keepers their accustomed supply of raspberry 

 leaves and the foliage of various trees. 



The very atmosphere of the Park awakens the attention of a 

 lover of nature. In many parts of our country there is a marked 

 destitution of life ; but here in manifold forms it continues in 

 plenty. The early morning hours are enlivened with the warblings 

 of different kinds of small birds ; and so regardless are our feath- 

 ered friends of the presence of man that a chipping sparrow had 

 built her nest, only some two feet from the ground, in a small 

 spruce bush, right within arm's length of a daily frequented path ; 

 and at the time of my visit was, unmolested, rearing her young. 



The day following my arrival I was kindly escorted by Dr. 

 Bell, the assistant superintendent, to Cranberry Lake, a reputed 



